I moved out in August, embraced nomadism for that month, moved into a new place in September, moved out of that place (due to circumstances beyond my control) at the start of this month, and am now embracing nomadism again! The search for a new place to start in January has been slower than I would like, but I’m remaining optimistic that something will work out.
To sum up: remaining open to changes, nomadism, and flexibility has been the best things this year for places to live and where I am.
Did you have a night out with friends or a loved one that rocked your world? Who was there? What was the highlight of the night?
There were two San Francisco and classmate centered nights this year that stand out strongly in my reflections. February 18 had a spontaneous flair of excitement and the feel of a never ending day. Perhaps I will go into public detail about that… or not. But April 3rd had even more excitement, group spirit, sense of fun, and for me at least, a feeling that we’d put aside our academic concerns that night and could (and did) focus on enjoying each others company.
10 out of 15 of us assembled in the Mission District to celebrate our classmate’s wedding. She had given us specific instructions to attend in our best Steampunked outfits and “crash” the reception, due to be held in a nearby function hall. One classmate and I were the first people to arrive at the restaurant. For a little while, it seemed like our friends had forgotten about the dinner prelude, but it became clear that they were actually just fashionably late. We took pride in our outlandish costumes and drew stares of questions from passerby on Valencia Street. I think some people’s meals got mixed up while we ordered dinner. Clearly the focus was not entirely just on our meal!
We migrated over to the reception hall – I was one of the two designated drivers – and reassembled as a whole group. The other classmate designated driver decided to park her car in a narrow parallel spot, but then realized she couldn’t navigate the tight space, so another classmate stepped in to park it instead. I remember the whole process took about double the length of time it should have. We noticed that the reception was in full swing and briefly debated how we would enter, as we were a noticeably large group coming into a room that had already settled for a meal into small table groups of no more than 10 people.
Ultimately we decided to make a full scene and enter in a choreographed line. We strode across the floor in single file, causing many heads to turn (again) at our outlandish costumes. Our classmate was at the other end of the room, and genuinely surprised and thrilled to see us. She later shared that it was one of the highlights of the evening. Other adventures followed through the reception, as we joined in on various dance routines (including a version of Blondie’s Call Me that I particularly remember) and two classmates performed a climactic and provocative dance.
The evening didn’t end there, but I don’t have to spell it all out here. Ultimately I returned home over the Golden Gate Bridge at around 3am with a sense of satisfaction and exhilaration over having done something different and still humane with my school friends.
The December 4 Challenge Prompt asks What book – fiction or non – touched you? Where were you when you read it? Have you bought and given away multiple copies?
In this case, Joanna Macy’s World As Lover, World as Self stands out. This was a book assigned for a short summer class I took with Mrs. Macy herself, so one might think that it would be academic oriented or not engaging. That was not the case at all. In this new edition to the book (I think the original was published sometime in the 1980’s), Macy writes with compelling urgency and warm directness about her Great Turning philosophy, which she then covered in person during the two day seminar. The book blended optimism with real world issues in a way that did not seem condescending or desperate. If anything, I felt even more inspired to take part in ecopsychology and world issues after reading her book. I considered it a true page turner, and I don’t often feel that way about non fiction books.
It’s interesting to remember the circumstances of how I acquired the book. I reviewed the syllabus for the then-upcoming class just a few days before it was scheduled to take place. I was surprised to discover that we were required to read a segment of World as Lover… and one of her other books before coming together as a group. I checked to see if the books were available in the Marin County library system, and they were only available out at Stinson Beach. I called that library from Berkeley and arranged to pick up the books on the next day they were open, which was not until Friday – and the class was on Saturday and Sunday of that same week. I was prepared to travel to Stinson to pick them up… until going to CIIS the next day and seeing that both books were available in the school bookstore. Although it was obviously more expensive to buy them first hand rather than second hand or the library, I chose to do so anyway, and am grateful to have her books on hand for the future. It is likely that both volumes will come in handy as I phase in more ecopsychology studies to my work.
I have not bought multiple copies of the book, but I certainly have referenced it as an inspiring, useful book, and hope that others have absorbed my recommendation with interest.
Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors). (Author: Ali Edwards)
(I’m choosing this over the third Blog Challenge question, which was What’s an article that you read that blew you away? That you shared with all your friends. That you Delicious’d and reference throughout the year. as I have read far too many articles for grad school this year.)
I’m going to have to go with the first time I walked across the full length of the Golden Gate Bridge, on around February 4/sometime in early February. This later became a semi-routine for me over the summer, and concluded (for now) with a sunset walk from SF to Marin in mid September. Unfortunately, the bridge will be undergoing structural renovations next spring, meaning that it will not be possible to walk the full length of the pedestrian sidewalk from March until possibly midsummer.
Nonetheless, that first trek across was spontaneous and stupendous. I had walked 3/4 of the bridge once before, when my mom was visiting soon after I moved to the Bay Area. However, we had turned around at the Marin County line and did not go all the way to the Vista Point in Sausalito. This time, I had recently discovered a working bus stop for Golden Gate Transit existed on the other side of the bridge, and I carefully coordinated my walk to match the bus schedule and then board it for the ride back to my apartment. There was an element of jubilation in my walking across the bridge – I was finally doing something I had wanted to do for a while, and often felt like I ignored the sidewalk and stayed in the car.
The brisk breeze coming in from the Pacific was extremely appealing, sailing across into San Francisco Bay. I noticed a lot of noise coming from the six lanes of cars crossing the bridge, with their loud engines maintaining an average 50 MPH speed. There were snippets of tourist conversations as I pressed on northward towards the Marin line. The sky was bright blue in that appealing Bay Area style, which complemented the bridge’s distinct International Orange tones of paint.
The experience of walking the bridge, that first time, was an initiation into a period of zestful physical activity for me that continued throughout the summer months. I didn’t go on any elaborate hikes or hardcore backpacking trips, but I did take pleasure in the things I did, physically, whether it was working with a Rolfer for physical wellbeing, walking extensively around Marin and choosing to participate in a non car centric lifestyle, and even swimming in the Pacific, briefly, as it’s a cold ocean, twice over the summer.
I became aware of an new “end of year” blogging challenge entitled Reverb10 today. Not sure if I’ll switch over to their prompts, which seem to be more based around questions than memories. However, I will probably continue to monitor their site to see if the questions interest me and thus pick and choose between prompts.
I’ve also shifted gears today to a new temporary home base in San Francisco, enabling me to CATCH UP on the prompts pr entries due from the last few days. I’ll be very interested to see how this stint of City Living goes, and how it feels to me, as I’ve spent 2.25 years living in the Bay Area, but this will be my first extended stint of living in SF proper. I call it “dancing around San Francisco” – and wonder how much I will miss my Marin routine during this week. I’m sure time will tell, and I’m glad to have this sampler to give a feel for the City and me.
Share the best restaurant experience you had this year. Who was there? What made it amazing? What taste stands out in your mind?
This post is slightly time delayed and meant to be Day 2. I woulda/coulda/shoulda written it yesterday on 12/2, but did not. So, instead, I will write Day 2 and 3 back to back.
I didn’t do very much dining out in 2010. Actually, I did, as in not making a meal at home… But I didn’t do much dining out as in actually going out to a pricey restaurant and making an event of it.
Of those times I did embark on a restaurant rendezvous, I’m going to go with another family experience. In early April, my mom came to visit the Bay Area. On the first night of the visit, we decided to travel to the Cliff House in San Francisco, a great place to stop on the way home to Marin AND a place I had never been before. The restaurant was very busy, for a Friday night, and nearby Ocean Beach was in prime mystique form, with the waves slowly tapping at the sand far below us. I don’t remember exactly what I had – I think it was some combination of fish. The atmosphere and occasion stand out much more in my mind. It had the air of possibility and potential that comes at the start of a trip or adventure, whether with family or friends. It was also a comfortable blend of the ease of family with the excitement of something new in an area I now know very well.
The first question of the blog challenge.
WHAT WAS YOUR BEST TRIP IN 2010?
Hmm….
I didn’t travel much in 2010. In fact, I stayed more tightly local in 2010 than perhaps any other year of recent years, or ever. For example, I went just over six months between visits to Sonoma County, my northern neighbor (about 20 miles away) between April and October. I did make a point to go back up there again quickly in November, though only to Petaluma, the closest town to Marin County. Similarly, I visited Pacifica, a coastal town just south of San Francisco, as part of a school field trip in April, but did not go there again until November 1. This is in contrast to my connection to both those places in 2009: I went to Sonoma at least once a month, and i visited Pacifica several times over the course of the year, often passing through on the way to a more distant locale (from Marin) such as Half Moon Bay or Monterey.
But what was my most memorable trip in 2010? The answer seems very easy, though somewhat predictable… the Family Reunion trip to Martha’s Vineyard in August.
The Vineyard trip was part of a larger East Coast/homeland summer vacation. Nonetheless, there was something special, almost timeless, about being back on the Island. I have referenced the experience multiple times this fall in conversation and personal reflection. It was the longest amount of time I’d spent on the island since 1999. The trip was arranged by special circumstances: my grandparents celebrated 60 years of marriage on August 9. Six days later, my grandmother had a birthday, and since my grandfather’s birthday followed soon after in September, the day became a joint birthday party. Those family elements ultimately became just one piece of a larger jigsaw puzzle or collage of island adventures.
I reconnected with places that have a warm spot in my heart but not much relevance to my modern life, such as Edgartown and West Chop. I made peace with certain elements of those places and where/what they are now in relation to my memories of them … specifically, walking by my father’s family’s homestead, which was torn down shortly after he sold it in 1999 and rebuilt as a very large house. This was the first time in several years that i had visited the site, and the first time I could look at it with an open mind and without a sense of regret. I looked at the summer tourists with some bemusement and appreciation. I checked in at several local businesses, including my favorite local bookstore Bunch of Grapes and favorite lunch counter place, the Menemsha Galley.
We navigated the high flying summer social/event scene with ease. For a few nights, I felt like I’d mastered the experience of enjoying pricey events for no cost at all. Over several memorable summer evenings, family members and I experienced Livingston Taylor and friends reading music and literature, joined a kirtan practice under a full moon in Chilmark, enjoyed Opening Night of Eat Pray Love at the Island Theatre in Oak Bluffs (first visit to that charmingly quaint single screen cinema since 1999), attended an Arts District stroll in Oak Bluffs, dived into the Built on Stilts dance festival in Oak Bluffs, and, as the climax, attended an acoustic evening performance by MV musical son Ben Taylor and several of his talented family (Sally, Kate) and friends (John Forte) at the sonically perfect Old Whaling Church in Edgartown. Of course, his mom, Carly, chose to perform at the later in the summer concert at the former Hot Tin Roof, but her absence from our show did not significantly detract from my positive impression.
In retrospect, this Vineyard trip was a perfect alignment of family and friends at an ideal time. I took a breather between the first and second years of grad school, and a change of geographical pace from my California centric life of the past few years. I came home again to a beautiful island that has changed somewhat from my youth, but retains a magical aura of possibility and community. I made the most of a fixed length experience, only being on Island for a set length of time, making every moment count and strongly stand out in my memory.
As a way of getting this blog more off the ground, and reflective, I’ve decided to embark on a “Best of 2010 blog challenge”. To do this, I googled the “best of 2009 blog challenge”, which I had seen on a friend’s blog last year, and will adjust the same prompts for this year’s entries. Interestingly, there does not seem to be a formal blog challenge for this year. Perhaps fellow writers are feeling over nostalgic. This should be a good way for me to take stock of this year, which hasn’t exactly been a cruising one, and set forth for holiday reflections and new possibilities.
First paragraph of a final paper, designed as a short story of psychological exploration at the famous Esalen Institute.
The sky opened up over the Pacific Ocean as the group sped down Highway One. Cloistered into the car were four friends who’d known each other for six years. In 2004, they began taking weekend courses on psychological studies through a counseling center in San Francisco. Now, in 2010, they had banded together to travel to the Esalen Institute, a mystical place of healing and opportunity they all knew, but had never actually visited Esalen. The group mood veered between anticipation and nervousness throughout the southbound drive. Evan took the role of navigator, pointing out highlights of Monterey and the dry irrigation of the Salinas Valley. Chloe stayed in her backseat position, preferring to remain in an introspective mood. Mike stayed in the driver’s seat and chimed in with some of Evan’s points. He also found himself taken with the vistas of the road, especially in the windswept communities of Seaside and Del Mar. Finally, in the passenger side rear, there was Jim, a man of action, who had been coerced into the Esalen excursion against his best wishes. Now that the group was nearing their destination, he began to relax and feel more open to possibilities on the trip.
Theatrical Buddha Man 